Saudi Arabia pumped 10.047 million b/d of crude in November because of higher demand across the world, oil minister Ali Naimi said Monday as he arrived in Vienna for OPEC's ministerial meeting on Wednesday.
"November [production] was 10.047 million b/d," Naimi told reporters. Asked why the kingdom had raised output to this level, Naimi said: "Demand." When asked where the increased demand had come from, he said: "All over."
Naimi did not discuss his expectations of the upcoming OPEC meeting, which will be the oil producer club's first since June, when Iran, Algeria and several other countries blocked a Saudi proposal to increase estimated actual output in line with the OPEC secretariat's projection of a jump in demand in the second half of this year.
A senior OPEC delegate said last week that the most logical solution for OPEC would be to set an overall ceiling for all 12 members in line with the secretariat's forecast of the call on OPEC crude and to avoid setting individual quotas.
The secretariat, which will update its forecasts on Tuesday, a month ago projected next year's call on OPEC crude at 30.04 million b/d.
